While Toronto restaurants deal with the pandemic's devastating blow to their industry, they are finding new ways to serve the community beyond continuing to provide the public with food for takeout and delivery.

A slew of establishments across the city have stepped up to offer complimentary meals to the frontline healthcare staff who are working tirelessly under extremely dangerous (not to mention stressful) circumstances to help care for the city's sick during the crisis.

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We would like to thank everyone who has donated to our fundraising initiative, it is allowing us to feed people in our community who need help accessing food as well as Delivering Meals to Frontline Health Care Workers who put themselves at Risk to Keep our City Safe. We appreciate all the sacrifices being made by local businesses and especially the Health Care workers, who we believe are True Heroes, Thank you All so Much!! We Love you! Photo credit @kozaknick special thanks to @famiglia_baldassarre and the @themarinaraboys who always lend a helping hand.

A post shared by Sugo (@sugotoronto) on Mar 29, 2020 at 5:33pm PDT

Popular Bloordale eatery Sugo has been at the forefront of community efforts, donating hot meals and groceries to food banks, and also delivering their classic Italian eats to hospital employees.

Maker Pizza has also been dishing out free pies for those working day in and day out at Toronto's medical facilities, while Nando's is offering free catered fare at hospitals across Canada.

The peri-peri chicken chain is also giving out 50 free meals per location per day to those in hospitality who are out of work due to the novel coronavirus, following the lead of independent restaurants like The Dizzy and Little India, which started providing dishes to those who have been laid off (or anyone in need) free of charge last month.

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Hi Toronto, Quick update : Regular Hours. Curb Side Pick Up (we really want to encourage you to order in advance, call in or download the Maker app which is available in the AppStore). To help keep our delivery drivers and community safe, we recommend that you request No-Contact Delivery and Drop-Off at your door. We have also implemented a new cleaning and sanitization protocol of all of our surfaces every 45 mins during the course of service. And yes, we are still giving away free small pizzas to Frontline staff. We apologize in advance for any delays. Love you all. Be safe everyone and Thank You! Maker Pizza Team

A post shared by MAKER (@makerpizza) on Mar 22, 2020 at 7:31am PDT

Indonesian eatery Little Sister, Italian restaurant Five Doors North and Middle Eastern staple Tabule are feeding doctors and nurses across Toronto through the Feed the Frontlines initiative, which has so far raised more than $100,000 in donations to go toward food for the city's medical staff.

Organic meal company Bio Raw has likewise updated their online menu with an option for customers to donate in $10 increments, with all money directly funding food that the company distributes to Toronto hospitals.

Another online campaign, #InMyScrubsCanada, is using crowdfunding to purchase meals from local restaurants like The Goods and Salus Fresh Foods, and deliver them to Mount Sinai and Toronto General hospitals.

And yet another called Stand TOGether — Feed our Heroes provides complimentary or discounted eats and restaurant gift cards to those working in COVID-19 hospitals in the GTA.

There is also Sustain the Line, a unique new endeavour that connects restaurants willing and able to bring sustenance to frontline healthcare workers with members of the public looking to help out by paying for their meals.

Basically, a whole lot of eateries across the city are going above and beyond by doing what they're best at — making food.

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115 delicious and nutritious meals delivered today to the ICU, ER, COVID and Labour and Delivery Departments with the help of @thegoodsisgood and @salusfreshfoods We couldn’t have done it without the generous donations by you, the people who have supported @inmuscrubsscansda See link in our bio. 100% of the money raised goes to buy food for our frontline workers #westendheroes #the6 #toronto #covidkindness

A post shared by @ inmyscrubscanada on Apr 6, 2020 at 6:37pm PDT

During a time that is dark and difficult for all of us — especially those in hospitals around the world — it's certainly heartening to see local businesses and residents showing their appreciation for those who are sacrificing the most right now.